[MOD] Distant Stars - Rebellion Alpha 0.13 Released! [17/06/13]

Published on January 5, 2009 By Nacey In Sins Modding

Article Link

Feedback of any kind is always welcome. Ideas, balance changes, and bug reporting of any kind is always useful!

Version 1.00 Released!

Make sure to ask for permission before republishing any part of this mod to the public!

Downloads

Rebellion Logo

1.05 + DLC Compatible:

0.12 ALPHA Release:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/rebellion/Distant_Stars_(R)_ALPHA_0.13_[45189661].7z

Full Download MIRROR:
http://www.moddb.com/downloads/distant-stars-rebellion-alpha-013

MD5: 69486D2FCD3F35E46E6F5EF8C9F1634A

Diplomacy Logo

1.34 Compatible:

1.01 Release:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/diplomacy/Distant_Stars_(D)_1.01_[45685832].7z

1.051 Compatible:

Beta 0.9951 Release:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/entrenchment/DS_Entrenchment_Beta_0.9951_[36672852].7z

1.14 - 1.181 Compatible:

Version 1.01:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/soase/Distant_Stars_v1.01_[453701567].7z

Make sure to ask for permission before republishing any part of this mod to the public!

Multiplayer Games:
We've setup a thread for everyone to organise their multiplayer games in and also setup example times and dates for most people to meet up and start games. These are what we hope to be the main times for people to be around and want to play games together.

The times are:
4pm EST (9pm GMT) Saturdays & Sundays
9pm EST (2am GMT) Saturdays & Sundays

If you want to organise other games please go ahead using the same topic to consolidate all the information in one place and hopefully get more games together within our community. These games are for PvP, PvAI & PvPvAIso come along and we'll get some games going!

Screenshots:
We've setup a thread so you can all post your screenshots to share with us the Distant Stars team and its players. Im sure we're all intrigued to see what kinds of battles and events you've all been having on the mod aswell.

Lore:
We know some of you guys love to role play whilst using Distant Stars, and here's a topic for you guys to post all of your role playing stories, character profiles and anything else you can imagine.

Maps:
Some of you avid map makers out there have produced some great maps but never really had them recognised because they've got lost. Well here's a topic for you to post a link to the download (we can even provide mirrors if necessary) a screenshot or two of the map for us all the preview and if enough people like it we'll even include the map in with the actual mod!

Please visit our website and for more information, change logs, downloads, and to report bugs. Our website can be found here: http://distantstars.mmobase.com

Bug Reporting

If you want to report a bug please use the Bug Report feature on our website:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/?m=reportabug

Please include as much information as possible, if you have an error log feel free to post it on these forums and we'll take it from there. If you can reproduce the error please include the error log (read below to find out how to enable error logs) and include as much detail on how to reproduce the problem.

To enable logging:
Windows Vista/Windows 7:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting
or
Windows XP:
C:\Documents and settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting

Open the user.setting file (using Notepad, Wordpad or any text editor) and scroll down to the bottom 7 lines from the bottom is the line:
LogOutput FALSE
Change FALSE to TRUE
LogOutput TRUE

and from then on any Log files will be saved to the debug folder:
Windows Vista/Windows 7:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Debug
or
Windows XP:
C:\Documents and settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Debug

If you get these log files to us (you can just paste them in to a forum post) we can hopefully get your issues sorted.

Frequently Asked Questions

All files are compressed using 7Zip to shrink the download filesize. To extract these files you must use WinRAR or 7Zip.
Any Patches should overwrite the original install directory, either by extracting over the original folder, or cut/copy & pasting over the existing file/folder structure.

1) My game keeps crashing, is there anything I can do to stop it?
i) Are you running the game on maximum (highest) settings? if so, lower them to High or Medium, there is a known issue with the game using up too much memory, there is nothing we can do about this, also no matter how powerful your pc is, it is affected by this issue no matter the pc it is not above this crashing issue, it is a game problem not a hardware one, so quite simply lower your settings. If you still have an issue with crashing see point two.
ii) Give us as detailed information as possible about the crash, what was happening at the time of the crash, what races, ships, abilities were involved. If you can supply a Debug Log (see above for more information about logging) and post a bug report on our website.

2) The loading screens and portrait pictures dont appear properly, whats wrong?
i) This is an issue with ATI based graphics cards (rarely affects Nvidia based cards) we're looking in to the issue.

3) Why dont you support converting Distant Stars in to TXT format?
i) Quite simply many things can go wrong with converting your mod to TXT, we cant help you with something you've probably broken yourself.

4) Can I mod Distant Stars for myself?
i) Yes you can however please do not distribute our mod or our mod that you have edited to the public. You must ask for permission to do so, we will regrettably stop distributing our mod to all if users abuse our work.

5) Your mod is in BIN format I can't edit the files, what can I do?
i) You can convert the mod to TXT format however we wont offer any support to versions of the mod that have been converted to TXT.

6) Why is Distant Stars distributed in BIN format?
i) Mods load faster in BIN format and are less likely to have issues in this format.

7) I'm having trouble installing the MOD, do you have any more instructions?
i) Carbon was kind enough to do some more advanced instructions out here.

8) Is there any way to make new maps for Distant Stars using GalaxyForge?
i) Within the Distant Stars Extras folder there is a folder called Galaxy Forge, Copy and Paste this folder (or its contents) over your original Galaxy Forge folder (or its contents) replacing any files if it asks you to. When you start Galaxy Forge next you'll be able to use all of our planets.

Or, the DIY approach (without custom icons):

ii) The GalaxyForge supplied by the devs will still work with our Mod, however to be able to access all of our planetary bonuses, templates, planet types and stars you will need to take our GalaxyScenarioDef.galaxyScenarioDef (found in the GameInfo folder of the mod) and place it in to your GalaxyForge folder, overwriting the original GalaxyScenarioDef.galaxyScenarioDef (if you still wish to make maps for the original game keep a backup of the original file). This will allow you to use all of the Galaxy changes included in our mod.

Note: Any maps made for Distant Stars will not work with other Mods. See #8.2 for DIY instructions for map making or take the appropriate files from Entrenchment, they're cross-client compatible.

Some statistics...

Since August 2009 to February 2011 we have had over...

400,000 Unique visits to the website
12,000GB (12TB) of data transferred from our website

That equates to over 60,000 Unique downloads of the entire mod, excluding the excess of 20,000 Patches downloaded.

Thanks to everyone that has supported us this far and making our mod as popular as it is!

dyMRNwSFh9gw

Comments (Page 231)

3451

jozmar

on Jul 15, 2010

Ok: Convert the Novalith Cannon into a super super weapon. When it hits a planet (assuming it's a solid planet of some sort), it "destroys" the plan, a la Death Star. But, really, when the planet is hit, the planet type is converted to an asteroid field and everything, all ships and structures, is destroyed, and the gravity well needs to be re-explored.

Is this even doable? If so, it would be pretty cool, I think.

3452

Draakjacht

on Jul 15, 2010

Well, as I understand it, changing a planet type mid-game is not an option. Rendering a gravity well unexplored after the fact is also a no go, at least not through what I've seen in other mods and casual conversation on the subject. That's just the technical aspect.

Creating a super super weapon has the typical setback of making people, even in MP, rush to get the singular weapon through which they vaporize all others without any concern for fleet development. As it is, I often see this happen with the current Novalith. *coughpbheadcough*

As it stands, the Novalith already has the ability to reduce a planet's total population, even to the point of uninhabitable (IIRC). This presents two problems. One is that it still wields a great deal of power over the other two super weapons. The second is that it makes moving forward difficult for any player who finds it necessary to push in that direction. After all, you can only shoot what you can see, and supply lines are an issue.

The idea behind the Novalith having a planet-only style of attack is that it balances against the Kostura's jack-up-your-fleet attack. One attacks your military forces while the other attacks civilian populaces. The Advent weapon sucks, IMHO.

And to top it all, you would have to create a super super weapon for the other two, which evens the odds. Then it takes us back to the currently faced issues with the super weapons (see paragraph 3) but on a larger scale. We do like to add material and evolve the game, but we are not unhappy with the general mechanics or balance, and thus seek to preserve a great deal of it.

Do not get me wrong, a weapon like that would be impressive to see in a game, even this one. I simply do not believe it would fit this particular mod. I hope that one of the more technically inclined within the group can fill you in on any details which might help you achieve the goal for yourself (many here have their personal tweaks to DS). I also hope I have not stepped on the toes of any contrary opinions within the DS team.

3453

Stant123

on Jul 15, 2010

Yeah, neat, but not do-able. Planet types cannot be changed during a game, however, the novalith does remove 40% of a colonizable object's total population, and this is cumulative. First hit is -40%, the second takes it to -80%, the third takes it to -120% effectively making it useless for income. So it kind of already has a similar effect.

Edit: Damn. Beat me by 20 seconds.

3454

jozmar

on Jul 15, 2010

I'm really not a technical person at all, though I suspected as much about the technical issues. Thanks for the feedback, though!

Ok, since I'm thinking of DS, I was wondering if someone could design multiple "looks" (skins?) for a single planet type?Like, 4 or 5 different looking Terran worlds, for example, each with different continents and all that jazz. Don't get me wrong, the variety of sizes is an awesome addition to the game, but there's a certain ennui that comes with all the planets being so homogeneous...

3455

Stant123

on Jul 15, 2010

There actually are a couple different looks, however DS removed them because of the memory limit. Sins does a horrible thing by loading every single thing the game could possibly use while you play into memory before you even start (even if one or two races will not be played their stuff still get's loaded), then as you play it has to keep track of planet ownership, ships all zooming around everywhere, strike craft everywhere, all of the different planet types and textures for them, all of the structures for everyone... All of which adds to the memory usage. When it hits 2 gigs... Crash. (And since it always comes up when memory is brought up, no LAA doesn't solve this, it only let's you use RAM addresses other programs can't so that Sins doesn't have to compete for space in your RAM if it's available.) You can see that one of the simplest memory saving solutions is to remove the double and triple textures for the planets is the easy thing to do... That being said, there's no reason someone can't make a few texture packs that can be rotated in by the end user to vary the look as they get bored with things.

3456

-Ue_Carbon

on Jul 15, 2010

Hey Stant, care to hope on vent sometime today? Wanna ask you a question about your tweaked Backgrounds.

Draak, hows the icons coming? UI?

EDIT: ip.free...ect one. The usual one is down. May just need to make this one the usual one.

3457

Draakjacht

on Jul 15, 2010

been busy. Hoping to jump back on icons tomorrow. If I can give a consistent amount of time to it, I should be able to do the job pretty quickly.

As for skinning the PD models, I really haven't gotten around to that BUT I still need to come up with a design for teh Vasari.

Player images are just about done, just need to alpha channel most of them.

As for HUD and such stuff, that's on the bottom of my to-do list, so no news there.

3458

-Ue_Carbon

on Jul 15, 2010

Awesome. Have not talk to you in awhile so I got curious. Look forward to all of it. RL seems to have all of us down and out in some way.

3459

Draakjacht

on Jul 15, 2010

Well, I'm so bogged down with projects I can't think straight. Just got done tiling my parent's 500 square foot living room floor. I still have at least 5 chapters of a manuscript I need to finish. Need to skin both the PDs for this and ships for my game. All the 2-D stuff too. Trying to jump on learning Python to help my brother. And on top of that, I already have martial arts and work. If I can put at least an hour a day on three of those little projects, I should be able to kill one off with no problem (thinking DS) and make a dent in at least one other.

So, I'm not volunteering for extra jack right this moment.

3460

-Ue_Carbon

on Jul 15, 2010

Yeah, your fine and your que is full. Stant on the other hand is so job free and will have lots of time. LOL, j/k

3461

Draakjacht

on Jul 15, 2010

Okay, got the gradient for the large Ue logo done. The alpha will select the area around it and the gray determines the shade of whatever color you choose for your team. Whatcha think?

3462

-Ue_Carbon

on Jul 15, 2010

Yeah cant wait to see my planets have that icon!!!

3463

Stant123

on Jul 15, 2010

-Ue_Carbon

reply 3456

Hey Stant, care to hope on vent sometime today?

What now? Idling in channel.

3464

Draakjacht

on Jul 15, 2010

Carbon, get your ass on TS.

That is all.

3465

Draakjacht

on Jul 16, 2010

Psst... check out Animation_Autocast.tga for an example of in-game .tga animation. Simple order of alphas I suppose.

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